Reviews of the latest films and music

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The excitement as we’re teased with posters, Instagram posts and cryptic tweets. Not knowing if one will pop up on the other’s stage to perform their duet. Hitting us with unexpected matches that create masterpieces we wouldn’t have dreamed of.

Lets talk about some of the most iconic collaborations that we wish we could relive and watch all over again. If I’ve missed some out – let me know!!

The lights go down, the crowd is hushed and goosebumps run up your arms as an echoey “Is this the real life…? Is this just fantasy…?” pierces the silence in the room.

It’s a Thursday night – about this time last week – and Mercury are performing their set, starting with Queen’s classic “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

With a Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Spike Edney, the night was filled with Queen’s amazing classics, as you can see in the videos I’ve added in this post below.

Joseph Lee Jackson is absolutely amazing as Freddie. His voice, his performance as he led the stage and his improvs with the crowd to get us singing back to him made it feel like we were really in the room with the presence of Freddie himself.

Let’s not leave out the band either: Glen Scrimshaw as guitarist Brian May, Pat Coleman as drummer Roger Taylor, Mike Scrimshaw as bassist John Deacon and Lee Harvey as Spike Edney on keys.

I made a point in each song to take it in turns watching each member perform. Each one a great, talented part of the group. I’d watch Glen play his guitars, perfectly playing Brian’s solos and playing “Love of My Life” beautifully. Pat’s energy never faltered, hitting each beat and cymbal with Roger’s expertise. Mike rocked the bass, “Under Pressure” and “Another One Bites The Dust” being my absolute favourites (I do love a good bass). Lee on the keyboard made it look easy, his hands finding the keys instinctively and effortlessly with the classics (so basically every single song).

At one point in the show I remember thinking ‘Close your eyes, make sure you’re not just being pulled in by the experience and look of it all’. I closed my eyes, hearing Joseph sing Who Wants To Live Forever. Only as soon as they were shut, I felt like I was listening to one of Queen’s live recordings – it was surreal. That’s when I knew that these guys on stage were like the next best thing to the real deal.

All the hits were covered; from Radio GaGa, Don’t Stop Me Now, Somebody to Love, Killer Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls, A Kind Of Magic, Bicycle Race, The Show Must Go On, Hammer to Fall, and Break Free with a cheeky black wig and hoover involved.

The hall was absolutely packed and a night that started with us all in our seats evolved into clapping, waving arms and eventually a sea of people stood swaying and singing – no, cheering – “We Are The Champions” like nothing I’d ever seen.

Mercury let us in on a little fact – they’ve been touring as a band for 20 years now. That’s a hell of a long time. But after watching their show, it’s a well deserved and easy-to-understand feat.

My family and I briefly met Joseph after the show as he walked down to the stall where their tshirts were being sold. We congratulated him on his 20 years and I told him he was brilliant. We had a quick picture together, an excited crowd quickly gathering. We thanked him for visiting our city and as we walked away to let him speak with the others that were around he said, “Maybe we’ll see you again!”

Leaving the hall and us trading compliments between each other about the show, I know that Mercury will be welcome back to our city anytime.

If you want to see if and when Mercury are in your city, go to their site here. I’d recommend anyone and everyone to see them.

Want to see more content in between my posts? Follow me on Instagram on @DiscsAndReels! If you come from this post, add a popcorn emoji in a comment and I’ll follow you back 😊

Take a quick look through @Kaito’s Instagram feed and you’ll find an array of celebrities that are legendary through their own fields of work. From Diddy to Jay Z, Drake to Diddy, Quavo to Diddy, DJ Khalid to Diddy, A$AP Rocky to Diddy… Diddy makes an appearance a lot because @Kaito is his in-house camera man. And the name behind @Kaito and the one capturing the images? Photographer and now one of Diddy’s creative directors Carlos Araujo.

From his debut single ‘Pillowtalk’, Zayn has shown his fans and those in the music world just what he’s been working on.

A few weeks ago, Zayn posted the audio to song ‘iT’s YoU‘, a slow relaxing tune with Zayn giving us a taste of his vocal range as he hits the high notes in the chorus. Zayn then surprised his Twitter followers with the link to the latest track ‘LIKE I WOULD’.

Fans instantly fell in love with the track, which is more likely to get you on a dancefloor unlike Zayn’s previously released songs.

Personally this is my favourite song that Zayn has released so far. It has a Can’t Feel My Face/The Weeknd kind of vibe, and it’s been on repeat and in my head all day.

It’s also been reported that Zayn was filming in Manchester, UK for his next music video, which apparently takes place in a housing estate.

Kanye recently released his long-awaited album, The Life of Pablo for Tidal subscribers to get the first listen.

Most fans were waiting until a week had passed to purchase the album on iTunes, but Kanye made a shocking announcement that the album would not be on the store. In fact, he said that The Life of Pablo would NEVER be for sale.

Subscriptions to Tidal soon reached 2.5 million subscribers, which is more than double the amount before TLOP was added to the streaming service (according to Fader).

But with services like Tidal, how will this affect fans and the way that we get our music?

Spending the day with your girls this Galentine’s? Hitting the dancefloor later and need some tunes for pre-drinks? Or maybe you want to celebrate your single and confident self with a playlist like no other? Discs and Reels has got your back!

This is going to be the first of many Spotlight posts. In these kind of posts I’ll be shining the spotlight on to different talented creative people from music and film – from directors, to producers, to musicians, to stylists. To not only the people in front of the camera but those behind them, and to not only those on stage but those behind the scenes.

The person behind some of the most popular music videos on the web right now is a lady whose passion for directing and creating visuals that I envy is the talented Hannah Lux Davis.